it was november 2006 when I first arrived in Lake Louise. Shortly before I arrived, a girl named Madeleine arrived. I only came from Ontario, she came from Switzerland.
It wasn't long before I met her at bible studies. We didn't talk much at first, but soon after we were discovering more and more about each other. She's a great girl, and we've got a lot in common.
We've taken to spending Sunday's together. It's our chance to do what ever. Which normally means skiing through the day, and church at night. When I first skied with Maddy, I was severly out classed. She's got skills! And I had to work to keep up. Maddy introduced me to the almighty double blacks at lake louise. Formerly runs that were just too steep and crazy for me to attempt. (I did one double black in my entire first season! And I was very proud of it) But Maddy encouraged me and waited patiently as I struggled down these double blacks, these , the mightiest of the mighty steep runs!
It was very tough at first, but it wasn't long before the ultimate steeps became my passion! The thrill of turning my skies down the steepest hills around, and being comfortable with the crazy speeds, moguls and drops was something I had never experienced before. I can only describe it as being nuts! But I loved it! And more, I loved the company!
It's been about two full seasons that I've been skiing with Maddy, almost every Sunday during the 7 month season has been spent beside Maddy. Going down run after run, and talking on the chair lift on the way back up. It's been a wonderfull time, that has now come to an end.
Maddy will be moving home to switerland on June 4th. I will be very sad that day. There's no denying that I'll probably shed a tear at this girls departure. This time she's leaving for good.
With only one Sunday left in this ski season at lake louise, we've already had our last ski date. We may get lucky and move to some back country stuff, but we've already spent our last day on the hill.
It was a wonderfull day, we actually didn't ski too much. We cruised a few runs, went down whitehorn 1, a run that I never thought I could do! And found a few areas with some fresh powder. This time of year the snow is very icy. It's not too fun, but sometimes you can find a soft area. We found a few of those areas!
But we also found the volleyball court! And we made sure to play some v-ball on the snow against a few other mountain lovers. Ya, two on two in ski boots... Not that easy! But loads of fun.
We made it back on the hill to do some more skiing, and called it a day. Well, after skiing we headed into banff for dinner and church, but that's another story for another day...
For now, I will just say that I will miss my regular ski dates with Maddy, but I wish her the best as she moves back home. It's her time, just like we all reach our due date, she's reached hers.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Road Trip part#2
After a long week of work, the urge to hit the road was strong again in my soul. I was in need of a fix, and I knew exactly where I had to go.
Back in November I had attended the snow-show at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, where they had ballots to win a day pass for two at Fernie Mountain Resort. Three people won and I was one of them!
It's been 5 months and I had yet to use this pass that expires at the end of the 08-09 ski season. Did I mention that the end of the season is tuesday April 14th?
In other words, it was time for a second road trip.
The cast was different for this event. Barbie and Bikini Barbie were out, Mark and Random Aussie Karin were in.
But first, it was Easter in Calgary!
This Road trip began on Saturday night. The youth from church were having a hockey night in Canada party, including poutine, pizza, road hockey and the flames vs. Oilers game. They've heard of my love of hockey and asked if I'd like to attend. An invitation to which I joyfully accepted! The night was great, even as we played through the cold rain. My team took an early lead to start, but then they did the unthinkable... A goaltender change. The new kid was a superstar. Nothing worked on this kid! I tried deaks, shots through screens, pulling him to one side with a drop pass to a team mate for the open net... We couldn't beat him. We had to focus so much on offense that our defense fell apart.
We lost 10-8.
But that was just the start of the weekend road trip. Now I was off to Calgary. I made it to Jerry and Nancy's just in time to see the girls plucking their eyebrows...
I went straight for the hot tub.
The searing pain of 104 degree water! Perfect to relax my aching muscles after the arduous hockey match! Ahhhhh.
Easter Sunday Morning, Church. I was sad that I was missing Church in Banff as my pastor had been preaching through John for the last... Well, quite a while, and I was sure he'd have a great sermon prepared.
Instead I listened to a pastor talk about how we miss Jesus in our lives... His passage to base his sermon on was the resurection from Mathew, and how Mary Magdaleen went to the tomb and didn't find Jesus's body...
In ther words, I wasn't impressed with the sermon, I thought it wasn't even bassed in scripture and was a waste of time to listen to, as others in the congregation must have felt as well, as I looked and saw 6 men either sleeping or just resting their eyes!
David, I read your blog and here is one thought of mine: our generation is looking for a reason to believe the Bible is factual and truth, as we have been bombarded with political correctedness and acceptance of others and their religions. We have been taught to challenge authority and question why things are the way they are. We are in the y generation... Because we ask "why"
Now, I think many pastors out there are great speakers, but as this pastor did this past Easter, he talked about nothing from the bible, but from his own experience. Now, I don't doubt that he's been through some great adventures that I'd love to hear about, but I'm at church to hear God's word.
I think many Pastors need to get back to the word and open it up for the church. The Bible is so intricate and detailed that if you just take the time to reveal what is already writen, the sermon will write itself and our generation will understand why and what is in the bible. We don't need to argue theology, just dig into the word and see what is there.
Anyway, that's enough of a tangent when I'm supposed to writing about a road trip! (I also agree that there needs to be more relationships between young and old)
So, back to my story.
After church it was time for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, which this year I was privilaged to be a part of! It was Boys against Girls in the ultimate battle of the sexes, challenging wit, endurance and stamina. We were given clues to locations around the property and we had to find our way around.
Now did I mention it was boys vs. Girls? And I live in lake louise, Dan lives in Red deer and Jesse, (Mels bf) well, he doesn't live at the farm either. So, we were at a serious disadvantage!
We went through the clues slowly, made sure we thought about them and worked our way from one clue to the next. Eventually we came to a clue saying "find me in the onace, no - not the ocean"
We couldn't solve it.
We starred blakly at each other. I thought it was the make of one of their tractors or some equipment... But wat is a uneco? Or an eco-na?
We decided to re-convene in the barn. In the barn is a whiteboard, so we started writting out all the 120 ways the 5 letters can be arranged...
Have you figured it out yet? Jesse gave up and started calling Nancy to see if he could get another clue. Just as he was calling, I figured it out: canoe...wow... Did I ever feel... "Slow"
Off to the pond we went to find the final clue, all while hearing the heckling from the girls. We finished the challenge a full two clues ahead of the girls! We celebrated by eating our chocolates on the deck watching the girls finish the hunt!
After dinner it was time to get on the road to fernie. I drove to the otherside of calgary to meet up with Mark and Karin and we aimed the car for fernie.
But we've got bad aim...
An hour later we were only at the south end of Calgary, still 4 hours from Fernie. As I write this in the car on our return trip, we just made the turn that we missed on the way to fernie. Like literally... As I typed... How ironic? I know that's the wrong word, but I'm short on vocabulary today.
But... With the handy google maps that comes with a blackberry, a tim hortons coffee and a number of mixed cd's, we managed to make it to fernie around 11:30pm. At this point we weren't even sure if the hill would beopen as we heard on the radio that it was Fernie's last day! We were a little nevous that we just did a 4 hour trip for the joy of eachothers company.
In the morning we rose early to venture out to see what Fernie has to offer. It was open!!! We discovered that it's a big hill, not nearly the vertical or size of Lake Louise, but spread wide with a lot of challenging terrain.
The days have been warm, and there was some really heavy, packy snow that had fallen overnight.
This possed some problems for my posse.
I managed to get through the day with-out falling. I had a few close calls, and lost a ski once... But that's nothing compared to Mark and Karin who managed to fall 3-4 times every run! One of marks last falls was simply spectacular!
We were cruising pretty quiickly down the hill on one of the last runs of the day. The conditions were the best we had all day. So we let lose and pointed the tips of our skiis at the bottom of the hill. It wasn't long before we were going, as some describe it, Mach 10!
That's when it happened. First I saw a ski left behind. How can mark stay up a this speed on one ski? Well, he couldn't.
Another ski left behind.
You might ask how can Mark survive with-out a ski at Mach 10, well, we don't know! All I can say is that I couldn't see mark in all the snow. It was a big plume of snow everywhere! When it settled back down, there were two skiis on the hill, and a completely white body far off down the hill, he was completely covered in snow, save the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. Somehow he survived the crash, and he seemed to enjoy what happened!
We did one more run and called it a day. It was time to drive the 4 hours back home.
More coffee and music for the return trip, but this time we don't need the google maps!
Back in November I had attended the snow-show at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, where they had ballots to win a day pass for two at Fernie Mountain Resort. Three people won and I was one of them!
It's been 5 months and I had yet to use this pass that expires at the end of the 08-09 ski season. Did I mention that the end of the season is tuesday April 14th?
In other words, it was time for a second road trip.
The cast was different for this event. Barbie and Bikini Barbie were out, Mark and Random Aussie Karin were in.
But first, it was Easter in Calgary!
This Road trip began on Saturday night. The youth from church were having a hockey night in Canada party, including poutine, pizza, road hockey and the flames vs. Oilers game. They've heard of my love of hockey and asked if I'd like to attend. An invitation to which I joyfully accepted! The night was great, even as we played through the cold rain. My team took an early lead to start, but then they did the unthinkable... A goaltender change. The new kid was a superstar. Nothing worked on this kid! I tried deaks, shots through screens, pulling him to one side with a drop pass to a team mate for the open net... We couldn't beat him. We had to focus so much on offense that our defense fell apart.
We lost 10-8.
But that was just the start of the weekend road trip. Now I was off to Calgary. I made it to Jerry and Nancy's just in time to see the girls plucking their eyebrows...
I went straight for the hot tub.
The searing pain of 104 degree water! Perfect to relax my aching muscles after the arduous hockey match! Ahhhhh.
Easter Sunday Morning, Church. I was sad that I was missing Church in Banff as my pastor had been preaching through John for the last... Well, quite a while, and I was sure he'd have a great sermon prepared.
Instead I listened to a pastor talk about how we miss Jesus in our lives... His passage to base his sermon on was the resurection from Mathew, and how Mary Magdaleen went to the tomb and didn't find Jesus's body...
In ther words, I wasn't impressed with the sermon, I thought it wasn't even bassed in scripture and was a waste of time to listen to, as others in the congregation must have felt as well, as I looked and saw 6 men either sleeping or just resting their eyes!
David, I read your blog and here is one thought of mine: our generation is looking for a reason to believe the Bible is factual and truth, as we have been bombarded with political correctedness and acceptance of others and their religions. We have been taught to challenge authority and question why things are the way they are. We are in the y generation... Because we ask "why"
Now, I think many pastors out there are great speakers, but as this pastor did this past Easter, he talked about nothing from the bible, but from his own experience. Now, I don't doubt that he's been through some great adventures that I'd love to hear about, but I'm at church to hear God's word.
I think many Pastors need to get back to the word and open it up for the church. The Bible is so intricate and detailed that if you just take the time to reveal what is already writen, the sermon will write itself and our generation will understand why and what is in the bible. We don't need to argue theology, just dig into the word and see what is there.
Anyway, that's enough of a tangent when I'm supposed to writing about a road trip! (I also agree that there needs to be more relationships between young and old)
So, back to my story.
After church it was time for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt, which this year I was privilaged to be a part of! It was Boys against Girls in the ultimate battle of the sexes, challenging wit, endurance and stamina. We were given clues to locations around the property and we had to find our way around.
Now did I mention it was boys vs. Girls? And I live in lake louise, Dan lives in Red deer and Jesse, (Mels bf) well, he doesn't live at the farm either. So, we were at a serious disadvantage!
We went through the clues slowly, made sure we thought about them and worked our way from one clue to the next. Eventually we came to a clue saying "find me in the onace, no - not the ocean"
We couldn't solve it.
We starred blakly at each other. I thought it was the make of one of their tractors or some equipment... But wat is a uneco? Or an eco-na?
We decided to re-convene in the barn. In the barn is a whiteboard, so we started writting out all the 120 ways the 5 letters can be arranged...
Have you figured it out yet? Jesse gave up and started calling Nancy to see if he could get another clue. Just as he was calling, I figured it out: canoe...wow... Did I ever feel... "Slow"
Off to the pond we went to find the final clue, all while hearing the heckling from the girls. We finished the challenge a full two clues ahead of the girls! We celebrated by eating our chocolates on the deck watching the girls finish the hunt!
After dinner it was time to get on the road to fernie. I drove to the otherside of calgary to meet up with Mark and Karin and we aimed the car for fernie.
But we've got bad aim...
An hour later we were only at the south end of Calgary, still 4 hours from Fernie. As I write this in the car on our return trip, we just made the turn that we missed on the way to fernie. Like literally... As I typed... How ironic? I know that's the wrong word, but I'm short on vocabulary today.
But... With the handy google maps that comes with a blackberry, a tim hortons coffee and a number of mixed cd's, we managed to make it to fernie around 11:30pm. At this point we weren't even sure if the hill would beopen as we heard on the radio that it was Fernie's last day! We were a little nevous that we just did a 4 hour trip for the joy of eachothers company.
In the morning we rose early to venture out to see what Fernie has to offer. It was open!!! We discovered that it's a big hill, not nearly the vertical or size of Lake Louise, but spread wide with a lot of challenging terrain.
The days have been warm, and there was some really heavy, packy snow that had fallen overnight.
This possed some problems for my posse.
I managed to get through the day with-out falling. I had a few close calls, and lost a ski once... But that's nothing compared to Mark and Karin who managed to fall 3-4 times every run! One of marks last falls was simply spectacular!
We were cruising pretty quiickly down the hill on one of the last runs of the day. The conditions were the best we had all day. So we let lose and pointed the tips of our skiis at the bottom of the hill. It wasn't long before we were going, as some describe it, Mach 10!
That's when it happened. First I saw a ski left behind. How can mark stay up a this speed on one ski? Well, he couldn't.
Another ski left behind.
You might ask how can Mark survive with-out a ski at Mach 10, well, we don't know! All I can say is that I couldn't see mark in all the snow. It was a big plume of snow everywhere! When it settled back down, there were two skiis on the hill, and a completely white body far off down the hill, he was completely covered in snow, save the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face. Somehow he survived the crash, and he seemed to enjoy what happened!
We did one more run and called it a day. It was time to drive the 4 hours back home.
More coffee and music for the return trip, but this time we don't need the google maps!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Road Trip part #1b
I left off the last post as I was heading down from the roof-top hot tub to make breakfast.
I don't like to brag, but I made a pretty darn good breaky! Pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit toppings, smoothies, whipping cream! The only thing missing was some of that good home made maple syrup that everyone has been making lately!
I must say, I really wish I was home to enjoy that fresh maple syrup!
But, we enjoyed breakfast on the balcony as I talked to dad about a new boat, and was heckled by mom about being in a hotel room with two girls and we didn't go to church on Sunday! To witch I tried to sneak out by saying I didn't know where the church was, but it took David a few seconds to find the local CRC and make sure I knew where to go!
After breakfast we checked out and went for another walk up the boardwalk, but in the opposite direction to the night before. We were able to see some sailboat races! And I had to mention that I'm the only person in the family who hasn't tipped the sailboat yet... To which you would say that I'm not trying hard enough... Either way, it's still safer with me!
Well, then it was time to hit the road and a few more timmies stops got us to Revelstoke. Bikini Barbie was getting annoyed at all the Tim's stops, so I was just getting out to check on the coolant levels. Louise had been running a little warmer than usual and I wanted to make sure she could get up rogers pass alright...but after a fluid check and both Barbie and Bikini Barbie going into Tim's, I followed in and
I locked the keys in the car.
It seems noone has metal hangers either.
A short walk into town ensued and we found some locals enjoying the sun who gave us one of their personal coat hangers.
Thankfully I have a bit of experience with this and shrtly after getting back to the car we had the door open and we were back on the road.
That coolant check...
Seems I checked the wrong thing. Louise was missing a beat once in a while during long climbs or heavy acceleration and not far past Revelstoke the "service engine soon" light came on... Oh bother!
But, she limped home and I made it in time for hockey.
We lost 4-0, hockey is now done for the season.
I don't like to brag, but I made a pretty darn good breaky! Pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit toppings, smoothies, whipping cream! The only thing missing was some of that good home made maple syrup that everyone has been making lately!
I must say, I really wish I was home to enjoy that fresh maple syrup!
But, we enjoyed breakfast on the balcony as I talked to dad about a new boat, and was heckled by mom about being in a hotel room with two girls and we didn't go to church on Sunday! To witch I tried to sneak out by saying I didn't know where the church was, but it took David a few seconds to find the local CRC and make sure I knew where to go!
After breakfast we checked out and went for another walk up the boardwalk, but in the opposite direction to the night before. We were able to see some sailboat races! And I had to mention that I'm the only person in the family who hasn't tipped the sailboat yet... To which you would say that I'm not trying hard enough... Either way, it's still safer with me!
Well, then it was time to hit the road and a few more timmies stops got us to Revelstoke. Bikini Barbie was getting annoyed at all the Tim's stops, so I was just getting out to check on the coolant levels. Louise had been running a little warmer than usual and I wanted to make sure she could get up rogers pass alright...but after a fluid check and both Barbie and Bikini Barbie going into Tim's, I followed in and
I locked the keys in the car.
It seems noone has metal hangers either.
A short walk into town ensued and we found some locals enjoying the sun who gave us one of their personal coat hangers.
Thankfully I have a bit of experience with this and shrtly after getting back to the car we had the door open and we were back on the road.
That coolant check...
Seems I checked the wrong thing. Louise was missing a beat once in a while during long climbs or heavy acceleration and not far past Revelstoke the "service engine soon" light came on... Oh bother!
But, she limped home and I made it in time for hockey.
We lost 4-0, hockey is now done for the season.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Road Trip part#1
Yes, for you naysayers, it has been I who have posted all of the last two blogs! All previous were not I, and I will miss they days when I could log on and find out that I have a new gf named barbie, or that I swam through an avalanche (which actually is what you are supposed to do! Lucky guess David!) But yes, it is I who have written the last stories...
Now, on to my latest adventures!
David mentioned that he has 8 months of winter, well, I am currently at month 8, and stil expect another month or two before I can think of wearing shorts or until june before I can swim in the lake... Thankfully hockey is still going and keeping me semi-sane!
We are in the playoffs and the semi-finals, it is a best of 3 series, and Thursday we played game 2, Monday was game 1,
Game 1 we managed to have a 2-1 lead when the ref's called the game! Seems that one of their players was drinking alcoholic beverages on the bench! What a fool! But he learned his lesson as his team automatically forfeited the game.
Game 2: we managed to lose 2-1. Needless to say, this team doesn't like losing! We ended the regular season with a 17-3 record! Along with the loss, the team started attacking each-other for the little mistakes and as the captain, I became frutrated... Very frustrated! So, I needed to get away!
Barbie, Bikini Barbie, (that is the name she chose!) and I were all feeling like we needed to get away, and we always talk about road trips... So thursday night we decided it was time!
The former director of operations from the chateau, whom I played hockey and softball with last year has become the GM of the delta grand okanagan resort... So, an e-mail was sent, arrangements made, and we were on our way...
Mandatory stop in golden was needed... Guess why? Yes. Tim Hortons! And then on to salmon arm, and another Tim Hortons! And then down to kelowna! And, cruising down all roads I took on the bike tour, although in the wrong direction! So I got lost!
But it wasn't long before we made it to the hotel, downtown kelowna, on the waterfront! Check facebook to see the pics!
We checked in and found out we were in one of the best rooms in the hotel! It's in the royal residence pavillion! We walked in the room... As the name implies: 2.5 bedrooms, 2 bath, balcony, fireplace, laundry, kitchen! A full apt! And on the roof, swimming pool, hot tub, fitness centre and... BBQ's!
A walk around the waterfront park was a must, and then off to the grocey store. Apparently these girls have heard of my bbq prowress. So... Steaks it was!
It is now morning and I'm back in the hot tub on the roof, but it's time to go make breakfast and get on the road to get back to Lake Louise. Game 3 is tonight and we need to win!
Now, on to my latest adventures!
David mentioned that he has 8 months of winter, well, I am currently at month 8, and stil expect another month or two before I can think of wearing shorts or until june before I can swim in the lake... Thankfully hockey is still going and keeping me semi-sane!
We are in the playoffs and the semi-finals, it is a best of 3 series, and Thursday we played game 2, Monday was game 1,
Game 1 we managed to have a 2-1 lead when the ref's called the game! Seems that one of their players was drinking alcoholic beverages on the bench! What a fool! But he learned his lesson as his team automatically forfeited the game.
Game 2: we managed to lose 2-1. Needless to say, this team doesn't like losing! We ended the regular season with a 17-3 record! Along with the loss, the team started attacking each-other for the little mistakes and as the captain, I became frutrated... Very frustrated! So, I needed to get away!
Barbie, Bikini Barbie, (that is the name she chose!) and I were all feeling like we needed to get away, and we always talk about road trips... So thursday night we decided it was time!
The former director of operations from the chateau, whom I played hockey and softball with last year has become the GM of the delta grand okanagan resort... So, an e-mail was sent, arrangements made, and we were on our way...
Mandatory stop in golden was needed... Guess why? Yes. Tim Hortons! And then on to salmon arm, and another Tim Hortons! And then down to kelowna! And, cruising down all roads I took on the bike tour, although in the wrong direction! So I got lost!
But it wasn't long before we made it to the hotel, downtown kelowna, on the waterfront! Check facebook to see the pics!
We checked in and found out we were in one of the best rooms in the hotel! It's in the royal residence pavillion! We walked in the room... As the name implies: 2.5 bedrooms, 2 bath, balcony, fireplace, laundry, kitchen! A full apt! And on the roof, swimming pool, hot tub, fitness centre and... BBQ's!
A walk around the waterfront park was a must, and then off to the grocey store. Apparently these girls have heard of my bbq prowress. So... Steaks it was!
It is now morning and I'm back in the hot tub on the roof, but it's time to go make breakfast and get on the road to get back to Lake Louise. Game 3 is tonight and we need to win!
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